On the NHL’s negotiating window quickly approaching, and how crazy the Steven Stamkos story will be next week:

“Yeah, it’s going to be insanity. I’m looking forward to it, but sort of not. The reason I say that is in our business, our world – the Insider world, if you will – we have to deal in fact. We have to. I mean, speculation isn’t good enough. Rumor isn’t good enough. We have to deal in facts and what we know to be true.

“This is a tough one because let’s give credit. Newport Sports, who represent Stamkos, and the Tampa Bay Lightning have done a masterful job of protecting this story and the details, from right out of the gate. It slipped out months ago that Tampa Bay had offered 8.5, which we know to be true. And I don’t think that the Lightning are willing to go much higher than that. They can’t when you look at the restricted free agents they have to deal with, and the unrestricted free agents next year, and everything else.